Vocabulary Power Plus – Lesson #7
Packet Due: Monday, November 3, 2014
Grade: 11
Test: Monday, November 3, 2014
Name: __________________________________
Period: __________
**Note: Copy the vocabulary words and definitions on index cards or somewhere else for study purposes.
I.
Definitions
1. adroit (a droit) adj. skillful; clever
He was not an adroit speaker, but he was a genius with numbers.
Syn: dexterous; apt
Ant: clumsy; awkward
2. macroscopic (mak ro skop ik) adj. visible to the naked eye
On a clear night, the Milky Way appears macroscopic.
Syn: N/A
Ant: microscopic
3. fatuous (fach oo us) adj. foolish; inane
Her fatuous simpering began to grate on our nerves.
Syn: silly
Ant: sensible; wise
4. bovine (bo vine) adj. pertaining to cows or cattle
The large animal figures in the cave drawing depicted bovine creatures.
Syn: N/A
Ant: N/A
5. ferret (fer it) v. to search or drive out
John knew the answer was in the text, but he just couldn’t ferret it out.
Syn: N/A
Ant: N/A
6. affectation (af fek ta shun) n. a phony attitude; pose
Ginger could not stand the affectations of the girls in the fashion clique
Syn: insincerity; sham
Ant: sincerity; genuineness
7. knell (nel) n. a sound made by a bell, often rung slowly for a death or funeral
The knell of the church bell told the town that Gertrude had passed away
Syn: N/A
Ant: N/A
8. dichotomy (di kot ah me) n. a division into two parts
Disagreements among board members created a dichotomy of the charitable organizations.
Syn: N/A
Ant: N/A
9. callow (kal o) adj. young and inexperienced
The callow boy left for the war, but an exhausted man returned.
Syn: immature
Ant: mature; sophisticated
10. laconic (la kon ik) adj. using a few words; short; concise
He was a laconic man who wasted few words.
Syn: pithy; taciturn
Ant: verbose; loquacious
11. quiddity (kwid i tee) n. an essential quality
Patience is the quiddity of a good teacher.
Syn: essence
Ant: N/A
12. patent (pat nt) adj. evident or obvious
When the electronics store saw the patent abuse of the game system, they refused to grant a refund.
Syn: indisputable; apparent
Ant: N/A
13. peccadillo (pek a dil o) n. a minor offense; a misdeed
Stealing tips from tables was a peccadillo in Bill’s mind, but a major offense in the minds of the waiters.
Syn: N/A
Ant: N/A
14. sagacious (sah gay shus) adj. wise; having keen perception and sound judgment
The sagacious old man always had the answers to moral problems.
Syn: shrewd; intelligent
Ant: obtuse; fatuous
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15. rationalize (rash a nah lize) v. to make an excuse for
The boy tried to rationalize his absence from school.
Syn: justify
II.
Words in Context
From the lists below, supply the words needed to complete each appropriate paragraph. In each list, there
will be some words that will not be used.
A.
macroscopic
adroit
dichotomy
patent
quiddity
laconic
The inventor’s presentation of the new microprocessor was a[n]
1. _____________________________________
2. _____________________________________
3. _____________________________________
4. _____________________________________
B. dichotomy
sagacious
__(1)__ of theory and application, and his __(2)__ explanations were
easy to understand. During the description of the chip’s __(3)__
components, the inventor said that the __(4)__ of the new design was
its amazing speed; the processor was over 1,000 times faster than
any previous design.
knell
affectation
bovine
patent
fatuous
The cows in the __(5)__ pasture were marked for slaughter, and the
5. _____________________________________
6. _____________________________________
7. _____________________________________
8. _____________________________________
9. _____________________________________
occasional clanking cowbell reminded Dana of death __(6)__ from a
church bell. Her brother died three months ago, and any metal-onmetal sound made Dana recall the broken silence on the morning of
the funeral. While at work, Dana maintained the __(7)__ that she was
fine, but her family had no trouble detecting her __(8)__ depression.
As her __(9)__ father pointed out to the rest of the family, Dana had
the closest relationship with her older brother, and she would need
more time to mourn.
C. rationalize
ferret
quiddity
fatuous
callow
peccadillo
adroit
macroscopic
Before getting fired from his warehouse job and being arrested for
10. _____________________________________
11. _____________________________________
12. _____________________________________
13. _____________________________________
grand theft, Eric __(10)__ his criminal actions as __(11)__ that were
not really hurting anyone. The __(12)__ thief had the __(13)__ notion
that no one would notice that $17,000.00 in merchandise simply had
vanished. In a successful effort to __(14)__ out the thief, the __(15)__
warehouse manager conducted secret inventories every day for two
weeks. .
14. _____________________________________
15. _____________________________________
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III.
Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes
Study the entries and answer the questions that follow.
The root tach means “swift” or “speed.”
The roots mid, med, and meso mean “middle.”
The root bol means “to throw” or “to put.”
The roots prov and prob mean “good” or “to test.”
The prefix meta means “changed.”
The prefix meter means “measure.”
The prefix inter means “among.”
The prefixes em and im mean “in.”
The prefix sym means “with” or “together.”
The prefix hyper means “excessive.”
1. Using literal translations as guidance, define the following words without using a dictionary.
a. prove
b. disapprove
c. Mesoamerica
d. median
e. metabolism
f.
improve
2. A tachometer ______________________________________________ the ______________________________________ at which an
engine runs
3. A[n] _________________________________________________ meal is neither bad nor good—it is simply in the middle
4. Athletes who have better skills than beginners but fewer skills than experts are often described as being
___________________________________________, or “among the middle.”
5. An obstruction in a blood vessel is called a[n] ________________________________________, but if you exaggerate, or
throw the meaning of something too far, then you have used a[n] ______________________________________________.
6. A skull and crossbones on a black flag could mean anything by itself, but if you see the flag flying above a
ship, you might throw its meaning together with what it represents and realize that the design is a[n]
______________________________________________________ of piracy.
7. The Mars satellite will _______________________________ the composition of the planet’s surface. If someone has
good chances of winning, then that person will _______________________________________ win.
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IV. Improving Paragraphs
Read the following passage and then answer the multiple-choice questions that follow. The questions will require you
to make decisions regarding the revision of the reading selection.
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Small town judges are buried in seas of bureaucratic paperwork, and many work from the
cramped confines of spare rooms in their own homes.
Their judicial accounts, funded by taxpayers and allocated by the town boards, are almost
never enough to cover the costs of running these makeshift courts.
They work part-time, and they are called upon at any hour of the day. Their courts
constitute the first rung of the state’s legal ladder, and these elected officials are called upon to
handle cases from petit larceny to murder.
The judges are not always reluctant to admit they are overworked and under paid.
One judge, for example, says that for his $3200 per year, the state has taken away a lot of
his “judgment” and swapped it for a pile of paperwork that needs to be very properly filled out and
filed.
He said it’s more like Russia nowadays. The state sets all the fines and tells you how to
judge the cases. Then you spend all your weekends and evenings doing the paperwork.
Sometimes more than one evening a week is spent hearing cases. State requirements include two
days of schooling every year, for which the only compensation is meals and mileage.” A number of
judges must take the day off to attend the sessions for which they are tested and “grades handed
down, just like in school.
One judge has a day job as supervisor of a state campground. One of the days he must
attend justice workshops is during the park’s busiest month, so he loses a day’s pay. “I guess I’m
just fed up,” he said, “and when my term is up next year, I will probably not run for re-election. I’m
in my third term now, and at about eighty cents an hour, it’s not worth it.” The gas money that he
spends to attend the workshops is more than what the state pays him. He said he originally took
the office so he could help people, but with what he terms the state “takeover” of his decisions, he
does not feel he can do it anymore.
Another justice, on the other hand would seek re-election for his fourth term because he
finds so much satisfaction in the work he does, which he chose to do as a means of serving his
fellow human beings. He also conceded that there is a lot of paper work in the job—at least three
to four hours “in chambers” for every hour on the bench—and not easily dismissed.
He cited the newer judicial system as part of the ever-increasing means to raise money for
the state. He said that the surcharges for crimes go as high as $87 for a misdemeanor, $42 for a
violation of the penal law and $25 for traffic or vehicular infractions. Is that a deterrent to
committing a crime? The judge didn’t think so. He said that the surcharges serve as a means of
generating revenue for the state.
1. Which of the following changes would improve the introduction of the article?
a. Delete paragraph 1
b. Combine paragraphs 1, 2, and 3.
c. Delete paragraph 2
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2. Which of the following changes would best improve continuity within the passage?
a. Combine paragraphs 1 and 6
b. Combine paragraphs 3 and 4
c. Combine paragraphs 4 and 5
3. Which of the following changes would correct an error in paragraph 6?
a. Add details about the judge’s trip to Russia
b. Omit sentence 1.
c. Enclose the quoted material with quotation marks.
4. Which of the following sentences could be deleted from paragraph 7 without changing the intent of
the paragraph?
a. Sentence 2
b. Sentence 3
c. Sentence 5
5. Which paragraph contradicts the intent of the passage?
a. Paragraph 6
b. Paragraph 8
c. Paragraph 9
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